Costume Shop Has Clothes Call

Area Theater Draws On Donations To Dress Casts

October 30, 1985|By Deborah Leigh Wood.

Everyone knows about the Theatre of Western Springs: that it has its own attractive building at Hampton and Hillgrove Avenues; that it draws from 30 suburban communities as far away as Evanston; that its 4,000 subscribers plunk down their money without seeing a schedule.

But not everyone in town knows that the Theatre of Western Springs has an extensive costume department that numbers ``in the thousands,`` estimates Carole Helms, who has been a member for 21 years.

Formal gowns, furs, military uniforms dating from World War I, tuxedos and enough period costumes to outfit a masquerade ball fill a room on the lower level. They`re all pre-1950, ``just because we`d run out of room if we stored newer ones,`` Helms says. Productions calling for modern dress are costumed from the actors` wardrobes.

Very few costumes need to be purchased, she says, and with seven yearly productions--five mainstage and two in the more offbeat Forum series--that`s quite a feat. ``Our clothes come from people`s attics; they`re donated,``

Helms says. She recalls a particular favorite, a black Worth gown with netting and sequins used in ``The Matchmaker.``

``The actress wore it in a wild dance scene,`` Helms says. ``And every night there I was backstage between acts in the dark sewing it up with black thread.``

Others are more durable. Medieval and Biblical costumes continually are remade to fit a character in his or her role. Shakespearean outfits with all the trimmings are in long supply at the Theatre of Western Springs because the theater`s surveys have shown that although people say they want to see light comedy a la Neil Simon, the survey results indicate they really want Shakespeare. (The company provides both and everything in between.)

As in any costume shop, ingenuity goes a long way. Jane Stacy, a costumer who started working at the 56-year-old Theatre of Western Springs in 1945 with its founder, Mary Cattell, recalls a memorable performance of ``Henry VIII.`` ``My first husband played the king,`` she says, ``and at the finale, as he swung his greatcoat, someone in the balcony exclaimed, `Why, those are my draperies, George.```

Stacy also mentions her exasperation at having to use 32 boxes of dye to convert a pale green swath of cloth to the vivid red needed for a cardinal`s cape.

Helms, Stacy and Rosella Snyder, who has been a costumer for 33 years, agree that figuring out how to costume a play ``is like a big jigsaw puzzle,`` Helms says. The sets are designed first, so the costumers must work with their style and color, subject to the approval of the director, Ted Kehoe.

``It`s like walking a fine line between what you want and what the director wants,`` Snyder says. Not every production necessitates a strict interpretation. For instance, Stacy says that the theater`s version of

``Julius Caesar`` had the Romans garbed in green gas station attendants`